Viridian and Red
by The Mudkip Gang
Summary: Developing Romance between Stahl and Cordelia. Loosely follows the Awakening Plot.
1. Stahl I

The clangs of steel of weapons and the bangs of casted magic met the ears of those within the close proximity of the training grounds.

"Ha! The Vaike will surely get ya this time, Stahl!" shouted the blond-haired fighter, as he failed miraculously to land a hit on the viridian knight.

Stahl lazily managed to dodge out of the range of Vaike's clumsy blows. With the day coming to an end, the two men ended their training session, much to the dismay of Vaike.

"That was fun!. You're no Chrom, but I never took you for the one who can actually endure that long." Vaike panted.

And I never would've thought you'd would choose me as a sparring partner. It's usually Chrom, you'd pick whenever he is around. Anyway we should head back to clean up, dinner will be served soon." said Stahl.

After helping himself to a liberal amount of food, Stahl took a seat, and was surprised to see that Kellam was sitting next to him.

"Gah! Kellam! When did you show up?" shouted Stahl, slightly out of breath.

"...I was always here," replied Kellam, sounding hurt.

Stahl simply mumbled something incoherent, before moving to consume his meal. But before he could take his first bite, he noticed that his fellow cavalier Sully was missing. Come to think of it, he didn't see her on the training grounds today, and she usually choose him as her sparring partner since they tend to do it on horseback.

"Say Kellam, have you seen Sully?" inquired Stahl.

"She went on patrol near the woods west of Ylistol." replied Kellam.

"Oh."

Guess it would be his turn to patrol after two days. With the ever rising bandits roaming the halidom, Frederick had advised that they would all have to take a part in guarding Ylisse and its people from the dangers of the bandits. With Sully absent, it would mean that Stahl would be covering for her.

_"I will have to worry about that later. For now it's time to reap the rewards, or in this case, the dinner."_ Stahl thought

_At the sleeping hall in the Barracks_

Stahl never would have thought that he, an apothecarist's son, would actually get recruited as a Cavalier, let alone serving the prince of the Halidom. Knights were usually recruited from noble houses, and with his family not being of noble lineage, Stahl had never hoped he would be in this situation. However, fate had a way of proving to reap pleasing results, and years later, Stahl was now a knight in service to Ylisse and had been trained by knew that he should exert more effort when it comes to training. Truth to be told, he was actually doing _just the right amount_ of effort ever since his superior left to patrol. And speaking of Frederick, the thought of him arriving tomorrow to wake up the recruits for "Frederick's Fanatical Fitness Hour" made him cringe in pain.

_The next day_

With Stahl working on mess duty, he contemplated on the news of the new recruit. He had been informed by Sully that a female tactician named Robin was found by Chrom and taken in. Sully had then gone on to tell him of the earthquake and the monsters that had fallen out of the sky. After completing his duties, Stahl decided that he was better off introducing himself to Robin the following day, considering the hour.

_Dawn of the Next Day_

Stahl awoke from his peaceful slumber to find his roomates absent.

"_Did I oversleep? Am I late for training?" _The thought of Frederick giving him extra time for the next training for being tardy made him wince.

His thoughts were interrupted when he looked outside to see that it was still dark. Much to his relief, he has woken up at the perfect time. The time in which breakfast was being served.

As he entered the mess hall, he noticed that there were only a few people present, mostly the squires, with no sign of Kellam, Miriel, Sully, or Vaike. He quickly asked the squire nearest him on the whereabouts of his friends.

"Oh, Prince Chrom was tasked by Exalt Emmeryn to get aid from Ferox to help prepare for a potential war against Plegia, as well as assistance in exterminating the threat Lord Chrom encountered on his patrol.. They weren't specially informed of the issue, but seeing as most of the Shepherds, along with Lord Chrom are making the expedition - "

"Wait what?!" Stahl asked bewildered. "Why was I not informed of this?"

"Well-"

"Never mind that. Just tell me when they left and what direction they went in?"

"They left about an hour ago towards the Northroad. They'regoing straight to Ferox."

That was a relief to hear. He could probably catch them if he started arranging his belongings now. "_Wait, this means no breakfast. I probably could go with some dried meat and refill my wineskin. I don't wanna get an earful from Frederick and Sully for being late."_

"Thank you for the information!" He said, as he quickly left to pack his things and leave.

"Faster, Abel!" Stahl said to his steed, as soon as he was out of the Barracks.

"_Poor beast. He's gonna be so exhausted at the end of this day. I'll make sure to give him more carrots for this next time."_ He mused to himself.

Both of them kept going. He was hoping he would at least catch up to them soon, preferrably when they were resting. . He was about to give up when he finally saw the blue-haired Lord, alongside a hooded stranger. He praised his luck when he took note of the setting up for a rest break.

"Wait for me!" Stahl shouted.

"Stahl?" replied Chrom.

"Why was I not informed about this expedition to Ferox?" he replied, as he got off his horse.

"Huh? Vaike was supposed to inform you… Wait a second. Vaike! Did you forget again?" huffed Lissa.

"The Vaike never forgets! Its just that I forgot to remember about it when I woke up." Vaike replied sheepishly.

"Vaike, I swear if you are not constantly saying your name out loud, you'll forget your own name. Maybe you should also add your axe to your name because you also forget about it!" replied the Princess.

"Hey that was one time! Besides I have it now with me. See?" the fighter said as he raised his axe to prove that he really has it.

"Everyone settle down. We are going to rest for 30 minutes then we continue towards Ferox via the Northroad." said the familiar voice on what Stahl could only guess, his superior, Frederick.

"By the way Stahl, this is our new tactician, Robin." Chrom gestured towards Robin.

"_So the hooded stranger was actually the new tactician."_ She had platinum blonde hair and wore her hair on twin tails.

"Nice to meet you!" said Robin, waving her hand.

"Nice meeting you too! However, you have to excuse me, I need to bring water to my horse, he has been traveling non stop." replied Stahl.

_At the North Road_

"Gods! Those Risen have spread out to the Northroad?!" Stahl heard Chrom yell dejectedly.

"Risen?" replied Robin

"The council gave the name to this one." said his superior

"_Risen? What do they mean?"_ Stahl looked around. They seem to be like ordinary bandits, however as he focused on one of them he finally saw that they contain no human eyes, but an unnatural red glowing orbs.


	2. Cordelia I

**Cordelia I**

On a sunny afternoon, a redhead could be seen in the barracks of the Pegasus Knights inspecting weapons and equipment.

_Let's see here, this bronze lance needs to be replaced… Oh and this training dummy won't last another hit… hmm and Aurora probably needs to get brushed, as the last mission ruined her mane _ Cordelia mused.

_Also - _

"Cordelia! Where have you been? I have been looking for you for the past hour."

Cordelia jumped in fright at the voice interrupting her thoughts. She looked around to see Phila, Commander of the Pegasus Knights, standing in front of her.

"Commander Philia! My apologies, I have been here in the barracks doing weapon inspections. What can I do for you?" asked Cordelia.

"Oh Cordelia, you do not have to do that. Anyway, I am going to need help with the new recruits. We are short of someone who would demonstrate aerial maneuvers and I need you to demonstrate," Phila said

"No problem Commander. I am about to finish inventory stocking anyway. I will be there at the training grounds after this." she replied.

"Thank you!" Phila stated, before leaving the barracks.

"You did great today, Aurora!" Cordelia said to her Pegasus as she brushed her mane.

The Pegasus gave a gentle neigh in response to the praise and the brushing. Normally the day would end after having dinner and chores done, but Cordelia insisted on staying a little while to tend to her Pegasus. Truth to be told, she has another purpose of staying up a bit late: to distract herself. Given her talent and dedication, she earned the title of "Knight Paragon" among her peers. But before being praised _positively_, she was ridiculed by the senior knights. That was a long time ago, but she kept telling her it was in the past until she witnessed one recruit being ridiculed for their talent and then suddenly the memories were coming back again.

Sensing that something was wrong with her partner, the Pegasus gave her a gentle nudge just to assure her.

"I'm fine," she said as she continued to groom her pegasus until she got tired and went to bed.

_The Next Day_

The Pegasus Knights were having a strategy meeting. Typical talk of bandits terrorizing the Ylisse - Plegia border, from the looks of it, the attacks were becoming more frequent. _Guess we should take more precautionary measures_. When the meeting was over, she was about to get out of her seat and prepare for the day when Philia said to her and her seniors to stay put.

"Thank you for listening and sorry for the sudden second meeting but I have another thing to say. This is mostly for our experienced knights," Philia said.

"There is another threat in Ylisse. Some undead creatures attacking villages and the commonfolk. "Risen" is what the council named them. They were first spotted West of Ylisstol by the Shepherds. And just now, we have received word from Prince Chrom and his Shepherds that they have spread as far as the North Road. I want you all to be cautious because these creatures look human but they are actually undead - like creatures," Phila commanded.

At the mention of Chrom and The Shepherds, Cordelia immediately seized up. Being a bit of a worry wart, she can't shake the feeling of Sumia, her best friend, being hurt or. She had heard disturbing rumours surrounding the fire around the West of Ylisstol.

"_To believe in rumours is a load of pegasus dung."_ she often said to herself. Yet she can't remove the feeling of unease.

Thankfully before the meeting ended, Philia reported that there were no casualties but they should take extreme caution and if possible avoid coming into combat with the Risens since they still have little knowledge on their behavior.

"_Thank Naga that Sumia is unharmed!" _she sighed in relief.

* * *

A/N

I'm alive and sorry for the long time to update. This one is quite slow paced but I will see how the story would go.


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